Few people can describe a fight more movingly than Teddy Atlas. The coach and Hall of Fame boxing commentator cut his teeth under the legendary Cus D’Amato and used to train Mike Tyson when the former champ was a teenager.

In recent years, the New Yorker has also taken an interest in MMA and covers all the big UFC cards on his YouTube channel or for another sports broadcaster. While he may not be the most proficient in the technical aspects of grappling, he is somewhat of an authority on striking. And this was apparent in his recent interview where he spoke about how UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Periera can more effectively disguise his most lethal punch.

Atlas on what Alex Pereira could do to land his left hook even more effectively

After ‘Poatan’ knocked out Jiri Prochazka at their UFC 303 clash on Saturday, Teddy Atlas was asked by ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto what he would like to see Pereira work on in the gym. To which the commentator said without any hesitation said “his [Pereira’s] jab.” Atlas explained that while the light heavyweight champion’s legendary left hook was more than lethal, “his jab is damn good.”

He observed that despite only throwing his two jabs that connected against Prochazka at UFC 303, “they both landed” and one of them “actually affected Jiri.” Atlas was very complimentary of the Brazilian’s technique. “It’s strong, it’s straight, it’s hard, you know. It’s solid. He’s got his base, he’s got his feet, and bang! It’s like phone pole,” he said.

However, Atlas did have one piece of advice for the light heavyweight champ to land his left hooks even more effectively: use the jab to set up your opponents for his hook. “And the only thing [I would advise him to do] is maybe use the jab to hide the hook a little bit, so the guys aren’t looking for the hook as much. But he disguises the hook anyway because he does it off the counter so sneakily, and just so well,” he added. And while Atlas may want Periera to set up his left more, the Brazilian actually did set up the knockout kick against ‘BJP’ last night.

Prochazka’s warm-up video made ‘Poatan’ decide to head-kick him

Alex Pereira caught Jiri Prochazka with a fantastic head kick and followed up with some hammer fists to win their UFC 303 rematch impressively. And it seems the champ had planned and set up Prochazka for it.

In the post-fight press conference following the T-Mobile Arena card, Pereira revealed that his coach had shown him a video of ‘BJP’ warming up in his locker room. In it, the champ saw Prochazka, while practicing to counter ‘Poatan’s calf kicks leave his chin unprotected. It was then that he decided to try and catch the Czech with a head kick during the fight.

And everything went to plan and the Brazilian knocked out the former champ exactly as he had planned. While Teddy Atlas seemed oblivious to the fact in his interview with Okamoto, he would no doubt be very impressed with ‘Poatan’s ability to set up the Czech national.